NAJIB TRIAL | The Kuala Lumpur High Court today heard that fugitive businessperson Low Taek Jho gave a US$200,000 loan to then prime minister Najib Abdul Razak's special officer Amhari Efendi Nazaruddin (above) in 2010.
Testifying as the eighth witness in Najib's 1MDB graft trial, Amhari said he failed to secure a loan from various financial institutions to buy a property in Kota Damansara and that Low had stepped in to help him.
"I asked many people. He (Low) volunteered to give me," he said under cross-examination by lead defence counsel Muhammad Shafee Abdullah.
Amhari said the money was for him to purchase house "number 29" for RM1.85 million and he intended to settle the loan after his other house, "number 11", also in Kota Damansara, was sold.
However, Amhari said he was unable to sell the "number 11" house and later offered to transfer the title of the property to Low as repayment but the businessperson was in no hurry to get the money back.
"I told him we can transfer the house. He said take your time," he said, concurring with Shafee that Low was a "good lender".
Amhari, who still owns both properties, testified that Low said there was no need for a loan agreement.
It was only much later that he discovered that the money he received from Low (above) had originated from a company being investigated by the MACC.
Amhari said he received the money in his Maybank account from a company called Alsen Chance Ltd, which he believed was controlled by Low.
The name Alsen Chance has also appeared in the US Department of Justice's (DOJ) civil forfeiture suit in relation to the 1MDB case.
According to the DOJ, funds from Alsen Chance Ltd originated from Good Star Ltd, the company which received diverted funds from the 1MDB joint venture with PetroSaudi International LTD, as well as two 1MDB bonds in 2012.
The DOJ said funds from Alsen Chance's Standard Chartered Bank account in Singapore, were used to fund among others, Low's gambling debt and Najib's stepson Riza Aziz's (below) film production company Red Granite Pictures.
DOJ also concluded that Low's associate Eric Tan Kim Loong was the beneficial owner of Alsen Chance.
In his testimony, Amhari said he also owns two studio apartments in Puteri Harbour, Johor.
The witness added that he wanted to purchase an RM3.8 million property in Pavillion Damansara Heights but declined after being told to leave Khazanah Nasional Berhad where he earned a monthly salary of RM55,000.
Earlier, Amhari testified that he believed Low had acted with Najib's blessing.
He also claimed that he had set up a bank account using the shell company Aerosphere Ltd under his name on Low's instruction.
He also claimed the account was under Low's control and that he did not know about the US$800,000 that was deposited into the account, which was believed for "political funding".
However, Shafee pointed out that Najib had no knowledge about Amhari's move to set up the bank account.
Najib is facing 25 charges of money laundering and abuse of power over the alleged misappropriation of RM2.28 billion from 1MDB. - Mkini
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